The present disclosure relates generally to electrified vehicles that travel along a path and receive their source of energy from a sectionalized electrified conductor running along the path, wherein the electrified sections are separated by neutral sections, and, more specifically, to an improved method of operating an electrified vehicle.
Electrified vehicles (for example, locomotives, transit cars or buses) travel along a path and have a source collector which cooperates with a sectionalized electrified conductor running along the path to receive its electrical energy. The electrified sections are generally separated by neutral sections. This allows the various electrified sections to be electrified by different power stations. The vehicle generally includes a source collector and a circuit breaker which is opened by a control system when the control system determines that the source collector is passing through a neutral section. This provides appropriate isolation of the sectionalized electrified conductors from each other and prevents damage to the electrical system of the electrified vehicle. The sectionalized electrified conductor may be a third rail in a rail or transit system or may be an overhead conductor in a rail, transit or bus system.
Various methods have been used to determine when the vehicle is in electrical cooperation with the neutral section and to appropriately control the vehicle in the neutral section. These generally have included proximity sensing means to detect markers on each side of the neutral section, as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,301,899, or a wayside signal producing device, as described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,957,236.
The present control system and method includes storing the geographic location of the neutral sections along the path onboard the vehicle. A GPS system on the vehicle determines the geographic location of the vehicle. A program of the control system determines the position of the vehicle relative to the position of the neutral section from memory using the GPS to determine the location of the vehicle. Next, it provides a control for maintaining the circuit breaker of the vehicle open as the source collector passes through the neutral section.
To fine tune the GPS to determine location and/or if the GPS is not available (for example, in tunnels), a sensor is provided for sensing movement of the vehicle. The distance traveled by the vehicle is determined and used with the GPS determined location to determine the location of the vehicle. To compensate for the accuracy of the GPS to determine location, a tolerance distance is added to the location in determining when to open the circuit breaker. The same is used for when to close the circuit breaker or after exiting the neutral section. The length of the neutral section may also be provided in storage and used to determine when the vehicle has left the neutral section. Also, a determination is made as to whether the electrical cooperation with the electrical section has been re-established. This is used with verification of the position of the source collector on an electrified section with the GPS determined location before the circuit breaker is re-closed.
The electrified vehicle may be a single vehicle or part of a group of vehicles. Also, the vehicle may be one or more powered vehicles connected with non-powered vehicles. In any of these cases, each electrified vehicle will have an appropriate source collector and circuit breaker and control of the circuit breaker. Each electrified vehicle may have its own GPS system and individually controls its circuit breaker as its source collector passes through the neutral section. As an alternative, a single master electrified vehicle may have a GPS system. It would then determine the location of each of the electrified vehicles in the train or consist relative to the neutral section. It would then send signals to each of the electrified vehicles to control its circuit breaker as it passes through the neutral section based on the location information determined at the master electrified vehicle. The master controller would predetermine the position of the vehicles within the train so as to be used with the GPS location of the vehicle with the master controller.
These and other aspects of the present disclosure will become apparent from the following detailed description of the disclosure, when considered in conjunction with accompanying drawings.